TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
To try to clarify one or two points--- while veering only a few miles from
the original topic...
Perhaps a True Genius can write one thing for three different audiences and
not suck at it: but how many people really understand Einstein or Pete
Townsend (or even appreciate their messages[1])?
As a human bean, I am only marginally less ignorant, lazy or stupid than
the worst pain-in-the-butt techsupport-nightmare caller: I, too, had at one
time not the faintest clue how to
* repair a carburetor,
* log on to Amurrikin O-line,
* read a teletype by sound,
* select jeans that fit, or
* walk.
EMPATHY for the people who have to use the DreckigeZeug those smegging
engineers designed is one of those necessary characteristics for
communicating effectively... Of course, one may feel that *success* as a
techwriter depends on some entirely different characteristics, but people
disagree on days-without-rain or anchovies or run-on sentences... YMMV
At 1:38 AM +0000 12/13/99, Dan Brinegar wrote:
>NO!! Dagnabbit, Rule One is "Dear Mom..."
>
>If any old "experts" could just sit their butts down and write about a
>product so that anybody could use it, there wouldn't be a need for
>techsupport, or training courses, or techwriters, or rewriters to come in
>and resurrect a slapped-together project.
>
>Accuracy, clarity and suitability-for-task and -audience are all equally
>important.
>
[1] E=mC^2 versus "There once was note pure and easy..." mean the same
thing to me --- others may disagree and even feel one or both messengers
musta been pretentious idiots *shrug*
-------------------------------------------------------------
Dan Brinegar Information Developer/Research Droid
"Leveraging Institutional Memory through Contextual
Digital Asymptotic Approximations of Application Processes
suited to utilization by Information-Constrained,
Self-Actualizing Non-Technologists."
vr2link -at- vr2link -dot- com CCDB Vr2Link http://www.vr2link.com Performance S u p p o r t Svcs.